Cannonballs and Papaya

The pool party was already in full swing when Maya arrived, fashionably late but sweating nervously anyway. Her crush, Liam, was already there, signature backward **baseball** **hat** firmly in place, doing a cannonball off the diving board that made half the party get wet.

Maya hovered near the snack table, clutching the weird fruit salad her mom had insisted she bring. "It's exotic!" her mom had said. "People love tropical stuff!" Yeah, right. Because nothing says cool like carrying a bowl of **papaya** chunks to a pool party where everyone's drinking sodas and eating chips.

"Hey, nice hat," Liam said, suddenly standing right beside her, dripping wet. His **baseball** cap was actually kind of cute, even if the bill was curled up like he'd been chewing on it.

"Oh, I'm not—" Maya started, then realized he meant the weird sun hat her aunt had given her. The one with the ridiculous fake flowers. She felt her face heat up. "It's... sun protection?"

Liam laughed, and it wasn't mean. "Dude, I was talking about your whole vibe. You're like, the only person not trying way too hard." He nodded toward a group of girls doing synchronized posing for Instagram. "Plus, that fruit looks actually good. I'm starving."

Maya's brain short-circuited. Liam. The Liam. Thought her papaya salad looked good.

"Want some?" she heard herself say, sliding the bowl toward him.

He took a bite and made a face. "Okay, I lied. It's... interesting." But he was smiling, and somehow that was worse than if he'd hated it.

"My mom made it," Maya mumbled. "I know it's weird."

"No, it's brave," Liam said, suddenly serious. "Like, everyone here is playing it so safe, you know? But you brought freaking papaya to a pool party. That's iconic, honestly."

Maya looked around at the pool, the fake laughter, the carefully curated outfits. And then back at Liam, who was still eating her papaya despite clearly hating it.

"You're still eating it," she pointed out.

"That's called commitment, Maya." He winked. "Hey, wanna play chicken fights? I need a partner who's not afraid of getting weird."

Maya grinned, kicking off her sandals. "Only if you finish the papaya first."

"Deal," Liam said, popping another chunk into his mouth. "But I'm warning you, I go hard in the **pool**."

"Pretty sure that's the point," Maya said, and for the first time all summer, she didn't feel like the weird kid with the weird fruit. She just felt like someone who was about to absolutely crush a chicken fight against the cutest guy in sophomore year.

Bring it on.